Imagine a father, filled with joy, taking a photograph of his daughter and her new boyfriend during a long awaited visit home. He frames the shot, they smile, and he captures the happy moment.

Now imagine the gut wrenching truth. The "boyfriend" is the man who kidnapped her, the man who tortures her, and his daughter is so terrified and brainwashed that all she can do is stand there and smile for the camera.

The story behind this single, unbelievable photograph is one of the most disturbing cases of psychological control you will ever hear. Thread 🧵 It’s a story that sounds like something from a horror movie, but for seven long years, it was Colleen Stan's reality. It starts with a decision any young person might make, a simple act of trust that led to an unimaginable nightmare.

In May of 1977, 20 year old Colleen Stan was trying to get from Oregon to a friend's birthday party in California. She was hitchhiking, and when a friendly looking young couple with a baby in their car pulled over, she felt a wave of relief. It seemed like the safest possible ride. The couple was Cameron and Janice Hooker. But soon after she got in the car, the friendly atmosphere vanished. Cameron pulled off onto a remote road, threatened her with a knife, and forced her head into a heavy, soundproof box he had built, silencing and disorienting her.

In December 2009, Susan Powell, a vibrant 28-year-old mother of two young boys, vanished from her quiet suburban home in West Valley City, Utah, after what her husband described as a spontaneous midnight camping trip in a blizzard—leaving behind a puzzle of clues, a devastated family, and a case that spiraled into unimaginable tragedy, still haunting investigators and true crime followers to this day. Thread 🧵 In July 2008, about a year and a half before her mysterious disappearance, Susan Powell quietly turned on a camera in her West Valley City, Utah, home and began recording a video that would later haunt her loved ones—a meticulous documentation of her family’s possessions, laced with subtle hints of the turmoil brewing in her marriage to Josh Powell, all on the advice of an attorney preparing for what might come next. Susan, then 28, walked through her modest house with the camera, narrating as she went. She started in the living room, pointing out everyday items like furniture and decor, but her voice carried an undercurrent of unease. “This is a video of all our assets in case something happens to me,” she said at one point, her words now chilling in hindsight.

She cataloged expensive possessions—the family computer, jewelry, even the trees in the yard she’d planted herself—explaining their value and condition. But woven in were glimpses of deeper issues: she mentioned broken CDs and missing necklaces, implying they’d been deliberately damaged, and alluded to a strained relationship with Josh, who she described as controlling and distant. Friends later revealed Susan had confided fears about her safety, even drafting a secret will that read, “If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one.” The video, shot amid growing marital discord, seemed like a safeguard for divorce or worse, capturing a woman methodically protecting her future amid quiet desperation.

In 2003, pizza delivery driver Brian Wells robbed a PNC Bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, with a live bomb locked around his neck, claiming he was forced into it; the device exploded during a police standoff, killing him, as part of an impossible scavenger hunt orchestrated by co-conspirators led by Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. Thread: 1/4 On August 28, 2003, Wells, 46, delivered two pizzas to a remote TV tower site in Erie, where he was ambushed, fitted with a triple-banded collar bomb containing two pipe bombs, and given handwritten notes with instructions for a timed scavenger hunt: rob the bank for $250,000, follow clues to obtain keys to unlock the bomb, or it would detonate. Investigators later determined the bomb could not have been removed or deactivated in time, making survival impossible from the start. He robbed the bank for $8,702 but was apprehended by police shortly after. 2/4

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On April 10, 2018, 16-year-old Kyle Jacob Plush made a desperate 911 call after becoming trapped in his minivan at a Cincinnati school parking lot, pleading for help in what would become the last moments of his life. Kyle Jacob Plush was born on September 30, 2001, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a 16-year-old sophomore at Seven Hills School, known for his interest in problem-solving and activities like tennis.

On April 10, 2018, around 3:00 p.m., Kyle Plush parked his family’s 2004 Honda Odyssey minivan in the school’s Hillsdale campus parking lot in Cincinnati to retrieve tennis gear from the rear cargo area. While reaching over the third-row bench seat, the seat unlatched, flipped backward, and trapped him upside down with his head in the rear well and legs against the rear door, compressing his chest.

At 3:14 p.m., Plush used Siri on his iPhone to call 911. He reported, “Help! I’m stuck in my van… I need help!” and mentioned being at “Seven Hills,” but could not hear the dispatcher due to his position and hung up after nearly three minutes of pleading and background noises of banging and screaming. Dispatchers attempted callbacks but reached voicemail.

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At first glance, this footage looks like two buddies casually unwrapping Christmas gifts under a tree. But it’s far darker: On December 22, 1990, burglars Von Lester Taylor and Edward Deli broke into the Tiede family’s remote Utah cabin, rifled through presents, and filmed themselves with the family’s camcorder—moments before unleashing deadly horror. On December 22, 1990, the Tiede family was vacationing at their remote cabin near Oakley, Utah, for the holidays. The family members included father Rolf Tiede (age 51), mother Kaye Tiede (49), grandmother Beth Potts (76, who was Kaye’s mother), and daughters Linae (20) and Tricia (16). While some family members were out in Salt Lake City, two parolees—Von Lester Taylor (25) and Edward Steven Deli (22)—broke into the cabin.

Taylor and Deli had absconded from a halfway house. Taylor had been paroled for aggravated burglary. Their goal was to commit burglary. Once inside, they used the family’s camcorder to film themselves going through belongings and opening Christmas presents under the tree.

Taylor had told a friend by phone that he planned to shoot people if needed. First to return were Kaye Tiede, Beth Potts, and daughter Linae. Taylor and Deli confronted them at gunpoint. Taylor shot and killed Kaye and Beth. Shortly after, Rolf arrived with daughter Tricia. Taylor held Rolf at gunpoint, took about $105 from him, and shot him in the head. Taylor and Deli then doused Rolf and parts of the cabin with gasoline and set it on fire. Despite his injuries, Rolf survived and escaped on a snowmobile to get help.

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A black Mercedes-Benz was seen wildly chasing a silver Toyota RAV4 through Manhattan streets, driving the wrong way and ramming it until it spun out onto the sidewalk—but what was this all about? Full story in the thread below. On September 3, 2022, around 5 p.m., in Manhattan’s Upper East Side near East 92nd Street and Second Avenue, New York, Denis Piters, 29, from the Bronx, and Christian Santana, 32, from the Bronx, used a stolen black Mercedes-Benz to chase a silver Toyota RAV4 driven by a man they targeted, believing he carried a large amount of cash.

The chase involved driving the wrong way on streets and ramming the Toyota multiple times, causing it to spin out and be pushed onto the sidewalk. After pinning the Toyota, one suspect exited the Mercedes, pointed a gun, banged the pistol on the victim’s windshield, and stole a bag containing $9,000 in cash. The suspects then drove off and abandoned the Mercedes a few blocks away. No injuries were reported.

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In a shocking twist from Pennsylvania, a video surfaced in July, 2025, showing Brandon Keith Riley-Mitchell, 39, and his husband celebrating their one-year-old son’s first birthday, igniting a firestorm over a legal loophole. Riley-Mitchell, once a chemistry teacher at Downingtown West High School, was convicted in 2016 of sexually abusing a 16-year-old student and possessing child pornography. Between May 2013 and December 2014, he exchanged over 12,000 text messages with the boy, including nude images and videos, while aged 27–28. His sentence included two to three months in jail, probation, and a sex offender registry listing with a ban on unsupervised minor contact.

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In this footage, a woman is seen discreetly tucking a large knife into her purse, her movements tense and deliberate. Hours later, the same figure reappears on night vision, shrouded in a white sheet, having just committed a chilling act against her friend- an American Republican politician. The video, miraculously preserved from a camera she failed to destroy, hints at a dark secret waiting to unravel. In the quiet town of Pocahontas, Arkansas, former State Senator Linda Collins-Smith had served as a Republican in the Arkansas legislature from 2011 to 2019. Rebecca O’Donnell worked as her campaign manager during the 2014 and 2018 elections and served as a personal aide. The two developed a close friendship, traveling and socializing together, and referring to each other as sisters. O’Donnell’s fiancé, Tim Loggains, held financial power of attorney for Collins-Smith.

O’Donnell began stealing money from Collins-Smith’s bank account. Collins-Smith discovered the theft and confronted O’Donnell.

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These are the last known images of Amy Pitzen and her son Timmothy - seen together across hotels, until she’s spotted alone for the final time.

In May 2011, a mother and her 6-year-old son vanished from their routine lives in Aurora, Illinois. What began as an ordinary school day spiraled into a haunting mystery that remains unsolved 14 years later. Here’s the story of Amy and Timmothy Pitzen. On May 11, 2011, Amy Fry-Pitzen, 43, arrived at Greenman Elementary School around 8:30 a.m., just minutes after her husband, Jim, dropped off their son, Timmothy, at kindergarten. Citing a family emergency, Amy signed him out and left without explanation. No one batted an eye.

By that afternoon, Amy and Timmothy were 90 miles away at the Brookfield Zoo in Wisconsin. Surveillance footage captured them wandering among the exhibits, Timmothy’s small hand in hers, both seemingly carefree. Later, they checked into the KeyLime Cove Resort in Gurnee, IL.

The next day, May 12, they drove north to the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, a family-friendly waterpark destination 170 miles from home. Hotel cameras showed Timmothy playing in the arcade, Amy checking in at the front desk. To outsiders, this was a fun getaway.

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In courtroom footage from February 16, 2023, Julissa Thaler unleashed a profanity-laced outburst, declaring her innocence and insulting those present after being sentenced to life in prison without parole. How did she end up here?

This is the full story. Julissa Angelica Genrich Thaler, born February 6, 1994, lived in Spring Park, Minnesota. She had a son, Eli Hart, born in 2016, with her ex-partner, Tory Hart. Their relationship ended amid a contentious custody battle. Court records show Thaler had a history of mental health issues, including depression, mood disorder, and borderline personality disorder, with hospitalizations for drug and alcohol abuse starting in her teens. Eli was removed from her care twice, in 2020 and 2021, due to concerns about her mental state and home conditions, but she regained full custody on May 10, 2022.

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Inside a tent, three days on the run, two teens filmed this video together. They’d fled after a brutal act against the girl’s father, who had forbidden their romance.
Here is how it all began and unfolded. In the bustling city of Las Vegas, Nevada, Daniel Halseth, a 45-year-old divorced father of three, maintained a close bond with his children despite a contentious separation from his ex-wife, Elizabeth Halseth, a former state senator. The couple had married in 2001 and welcomed daughters Dana in 2002 and Sierra in 2004, along with son Jordan in 2003.

Their 11-year marriage dissolved in 2012 following allegations of domestic abuse, with Daniel pleading guilty to two counts of coercion and battery. Elizabeth retained primary custody, but custody disputes persisted into 2020, during which Daniel filed for adjustments to the arrangement.
By June 2020, Sierra Halseth, then 15, began dating 18-year-old Aaron Guerrero. The relationship continued until December 2020, when both sets of parents discovered the teens’ plans to run away to Los Angeles and forbade them from seeing each other. Daniel specifically prohibited Sierra from contacting Guerrero. Sierra, however, expressed a desire to live with her father, leading Daniel to believe he was providing her a stable environment.

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You may remember the viral Citi Bike video from May 2023, but here’s what unfolded in the days and months that followed, including accounts from both sides. The clip filmed near Bellevue Hospital in New York City, showed Sarah Comrie, a pregnant physician’s assistant in scrubs, arguing with a group of five Black teenagers over a rental bike. It amassed millions of views, leading to accusations that Comrie was trying to steal the bike, weaponizing her tears, and exhibiting racist behavior, which earned her the label “Citi Bike Karen.” Civil rights attorney Ben Crump tweeted that she had “weaponized her tears” to endanger the teens, comparing it to historical racial injustices. Comrie was doxxed, received death threats, was placed on paid leave by her employer NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and went into hiding.

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This is Caleb Kai McGillvary in his famous Fox interview, describing how he used a hatchet to stop a man who rammed into pedestrians in Fresno, California, in February 2013: "Smash, smash, SUH-MASH." The viral clip made him an internet hero overnight. But after that, he vanished from the limelight—until tragedy struck just months later. What happened? On February 1, 2013, Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, 24, was hitchhiking in Fresno, California, when Jett Simmons McBride, 54, picked him up. McBride drove erratically, claiming to be Jesus, and rammed his car into two Pacific Gas & Electric workers, pinning one. McBride then exited and attacked a bystander woman. McGillvary intervened with a hatchet from his backpack, striking McBride three times in the head to stop him. Police arrived, and McGillvary was hailed as a hero.

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On April 23, 2019, a woman called 911 claiming she’d just given birth at home—but it was a lie masking something far more sinister. Moments earlier, a 9-month-pregnant woman had arrived at her house, lured by an online offer of free baby clothes. What happened next is every parent’s worst fear. It all started in early 2019 when Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, a 19-year-old Chicago high school student, married and mom to a 3-year-old, was expecting her second child. Excited for her growing family, she joined a Facebook group for young moms to swap tips and resources. There, she connected with Clarisa Figueroa, a 46-year-old woman offering free baby clothes. Marlen, trusting the gesture, agreed to visit Clarisa’s Southwest Side home. But Clarisa, who’d lost her son in 2018 and had her tubes tied, was faking a pregnancy with ultrasound photos. She and her 24-year-old daughter, Desiree Figueroa, were plotting to steal Marlen’s unborn baby.

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On April 29, 2022, corrections officer Vicky White used her patrol car to escort inmate Casey White—a towering 6’9” convict serving a 75-year sentence—out of an Alabama jail, claiming he had a mental health evaluation. After selling her house at a steep discount, withdrawing $90,000 in cash, and planning an escape to build a life together, the two vanished. It all started back in 2020 when Casey White, a 6'9" giant of a guy from Alabama with a rap sheet including attempted murder, kidnapping, and burglary—serving 75 years already and facing capital murder charges for stabbing a woman to death—landed in Lauderdale County Jail. There, he crossed paths with Vicky White, a 56-year-old corrections officer who'd been on the job for 25 years, known as a straight-arrow type who'd won Employee of the Year awards multiple times. At first, it was just routine inmate-officer stuff, but over time, something clicked. They started talking more, and Vicky began bending rules—smuggling in burner phones so they could chat and text late at night.

By 2022, it had turned into a full-blown secret romance, with Vicky falling hard despite the red flags. Casey, always the charmer according to cellmates, played into it, and they dreamed of running off together.

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In this suitcase, a man begs his girlfriend to let him out, gasping for air and pleading desperately—but she taunts him, laughing it off as she leaves him zipped inside overnight. These cries for help would be his last words. It began innocently enough in late 2019 when Sarah Boone, 42, met Jorge Torres Jr., also 42, in Winter Park, Florida. They hit it off quickly, moving in together and sharing what seemed like a normal relationship at first—date nights, shared laughs, the usual. But cracks appeared fast. Police records show multiple calls to their apartment for domestic disputes, escalating arguments that turned physical. In one incident just months before the tragedy, Boone was arrested for battery after allegedly choking Torres and smashing his phone during a fight. Torres didn't press charges, and they stayed together

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This eerie church surveillance footage shows a shadowy figure clad in tactical SWAT gear marked "POLICE," wandering empty halls, prying open doors and shattering glass during a heavy rainstorm. Meanwhile, a female instructor arrives to set up her 5 a.m. boot camp class, oblivious to the danger lurking inside - just moments before tragedy strikes. It all began on April 18, 2016, when Terri "Missy" Bevers, a 45-year-old fitness instructor and mother of three, arrived at Creekside Church of Christ in Midlothian, Texas, around 4 a.m. She was there to prepare for her regular 5 a.m. boot camp class as part of Camp Gladiator, a nationwide fitness program offering high-intensity group workouts. She unloaded gear from her truck despite the pouring rain.

Missy was married to Brandon Bevers, and while their life seemed stable, police later learned of some marital strains, including financial issues and flirtatious communications she had with people outside the marriage. The church was quiet that early morning - or appeared to be.

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This is a 26-year-old social media influencer with over 2 million followers and her boyfriend, a 27-year-old crypto trader from Texas, originally from Nigeria. This elevator footage shows them in a tense altercation—just hours before everything fell apart.

What started as a fast-moving romance in Miami’s high-rise life would soon spiral into something far more serious. Let’s walk through the timeline.. It started in early 2021, when Christian “Toby” Obumseli, a 27-year-old crypto trader from Texas, originally from Nigeria, moved to Miami to advance his trading career. There, he met Courtney Clenney, a 26-year-old OnlyFans model and Instagram influencer with over 2 million followers. They quickly began a passionate relationship and moved in together at One Paraiso, a luxury high-rise in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood.

But behind the high-rise lifestyle, things turned volatile. Neighbors frequently reported loud arguments, and police were called to their apartment at least seven times for domestic disturbances. Despite the repeated incidents, no arrests were made.

Toby confided in close friends through text messages, saying Courtney had physically attacked him several times—once even stabbing him. Still, he chose to stay.

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This is Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old University of Utah track athlete. A few moments ago, she received a message from someone claiming to be a deputy chief, urging her to come to the police station.

She was on campus, and moments after she left, a man she had broken up with was seen on CCTV walking into campus buildings carrying a black, seemingly weighty bag. He had been carrying the black bag again while wearing Deadpool gear during his earlier stalking. Lauren McCluskey was a 21-year-old senior at the University of Utah, a dedicated track and field athlete from Washington state, majoring in communications. On September 2, 2018, while out with friends in Salt Lake City, she met a bouncer named Shawn Fields at a local bar. He told her he was 28, charming and attentive, and they hit it off quickly, starting to date soon after. Fields visited her dorm often, met her friends, and seemed like a good match.

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This is Paul Thijssen, a 24-year-old former student and sports coach at St Andrew's Cathedral School in Sydney, Australia. Days earlier, his colleague Lilie James, 21, had just ended their brief casual relationship. CCTV footage captured him in a hardware store selecting a hammer after testing several for weight, then practicing swings and lunges outside the gym bathroom at the school. Paul Thijssen, born in 1999 in the Netherlands and raised in Sydney, Australia, was a former student at St Andrew's Cathedral School, a prestigious private school in central Sydney. He captained the cricket and hockey teams there. After studying abroad, he returned in 2023 at age 24 to coach sports at the school and a nearby college. Lilie James, born in 2002, was a 21-year-old water polo coach and assistant at the same school, studying commerce and law at a local university while living with her family in a southern Sydney suburb.

In September 2023, Thijssen and James, who worked together in the school's sports department, began a casual romantic relationship that lasted about five weeks. By mid-October, James decided to end it, telling Thijssen it wasn't working out due to their professional overlap. The breakup occurred just days before October 25, 2023.

In this CCTV footage from July 24, 2024, 57-year-old Anita Rose, a mother of three, is seen calmly walking her dog along a quiet path in Suffolk, England, wearing a bright pink jacket and earphones. Just behind her, a man can be seen following at a careful distance — almost blending into the background. This would be the last moment Anita was ever seen alive. What happened next would leave an entire country in shock. On July 24, 2024, 57-year-old Anita Rose, a mother of three, left her home in Suffolk, England, around 5 a.m. to walk her dog. In CCTV footage from that morning, Anita can be seen in her bright pink jacket, earphones in, as she sets off on what seemed like a normal early walk. Behind her, a man quietly follows.

Around 6:25 a.m., a cyclist found Anita lying severely injured on a footpath. Her loyal dog was still beside her, and her dog’s lead was found tightly looped around her ankle. She was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, but after four days in critical condition, she died on July 28 from catastrophic head injuries described by doctors as similar to those from a high-speed car crash.